Terrorists Switch Off Victim’s Phone After Ransom Payment

BY CHUKWUMA AGU

The phone of a barman in Nsukka who was kidnapped by group of gunmen has been switched off after payment for his ransom was made.

A relative of the captive, James Audu, yesterday, in Nsukka, said the kidnappers had switched off the victim’s phone line.
Audu said that fear has gripped the family as the kidnappers switched off his brother’s phone line after collecting the ransom.
He added that the kidnappers initially demanded N20 million, but the family negotiated with them until they agreed on a price.

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He further explained that his brother, a barman, was attending to his customers about two weeks ago when the suspected kidnappers struck, shooting one of his customers, identified as Johnson, to death before they whisked him away.

He said: “They ordered everyone to lie down when they came to my brother’s beer parlour at about 7:30 pm two Sundays ago. They shot one of the customers, Johnson, who was asleep when they ordered other customers to lie down. He could not obey the order because he was asleep. He died instantly.

“It was at that moment that they whisked my brother away on their motorcycle.” Two days later, the kidnappers called for ransom, demanding N20 million. They called the names of wealthy individuals in our community and asked us to go and collect N250,000 each from them before they would release him. “